BEIJING — China has launched one of two laboratory modules to complete its permanent orbiting space station.
The Wentian was launched from tropical Hainan Island with a large crowd of amateur photographers and space enthusiasts watching.
Designed for science and biology experiments, the module lifted off on the Long March 5B remote 3 rocket, and spent roughly eight minutes in flight before it entered orbit, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
A second lab module, called the Mengtian, is due to be launched in October, and both will join the Tiangong space station. Three astronauts are already living in the core module and will oversee the arrival and docking of the lab.
